Gift of Astrid's Night Fury
by CessieRose25
Summary: Snoggletog Special for my Astrid-Hiccup-role-reversal series! When the dragons leave Berk during the festive season, Berk turns to Astrid for answers although she's more concerned with Toothless' happiness. Warning: changes have been made to the yaknog scene because I might have already established Hiccup as the cook out of him and Astrid.
1. Where did They Go?

**Chapter One: Where did They Go?**

_This is Berk, boasting the balmy fun-in-the-sun climate that'll give you frostbite on your spleen. The one upside is our annual holiday – we call it Snoggletog. Why we chose such a stupid name remains a mystery, but with the war long over and dragons living among us, this year's Snoggletog promises to be one to remember._

A young blonde Viking girl was curled up asleep in her wooden bed. Her peaceful slumber was interrupted by the sound of something jumping on the roof. Groggily opening one eye, the girl pulled the covers over her head, praying that whatever it was making the noise would realise that she needed a few extra hours sleep.

"Astrid!" a muffled voice from the next room grumbled. "Can you shut that dragon up? Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"So am I!" the girl called back sleepily.

_BANG!_

"Astrid, I swear, if you don't shut that reptile up I'm rearranging your good leg."

"Mmm..."

_CRASH!_

"ASTRID!"

The noise and the shouting persisted, so the girl finally gave in and fumbled around for a brightly coloured amulet on her bedside table.

"Okay, okay, okay," she yawned. "I'm going...I'm coming." Swinging her...right foot and left prosthetic leg out of bed, Astrid Hofferson trudged outside, half asleep, into the winter morning to see her best friend roosting on the roof. "Well, good morning, Mr Bossy," she greeted. Toothless was Astrid's Night Fury – and she was as much his human – and her best friend ever since she'd shot him down in a dragon raid a month ago and lost him his left tail fin...yeah, while it didn't sound like the best foundation of a friendship, that was how it all started for these two.

Toothless made a small rumbling noise with his throat which always made Astrid smile. She imitated him as she walked round the side of the house which she had lived in with Berk's leading family – the Haddocks – ever since her parents were killed in a dragon raid and she'd become betrothed to the heir of the Hooligan tribe, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. She used to hate her life, but since Toothless arrived, she couldn't be happier, especially as the guy to whom she'd been engaged to her whole life actually liked her now.

"You always have to wake me up so early to go fly...ING!" Astrid yelped, skidding on a patch of ice that had formed outside a few days ago and almost doing the splits as she fell. During the battle with the Red Death, Astrid had lost her left leg and it only hindered her walking further than usual in the winter. Thankfully, Toothless shot under Astrid to catch her before she could hit the ground. "Stupid leg..." she muttered. Toothless growled again sympathetically. "No thanks, buddy, it's okay. Yeah, we can go flying now," Astrid smiled before Toothless suddenly burped in her face.

"Eww...eww! What?! Eww!" she spluttered as she tried to breathe in some air that didn't stink of fish. "Toothless!"

/\

Within minutes, Astrid and Toothless were high in the clouds, practising a new set of tricks they'd been working on.

"Come on! Let's see what you've got today!" Astrid crowed, leading the Night Fury into a nose dive. An outcrop was approaching so Astrid prepared for a trick that she and Toothless had been perfecting for weeks.

"Okay, are you ready?" she grinned, slipping her prosthetic leg out of the stirrup and standing upright on the saddle. "Easy..." As they reached the outcrop, Astrid jumped over it, landed on Toothless on the other side, and clicked her prosthetic foot back into the stirrup and the two continued flying.

"YES! Finally!"

/\

"Here?" a Viking woman called from her Gronkle whilst holding a Snoggletog decoration.

"No, that one just a wee bit higher!" Gobber the Belch called from the ground. "Yes! That's the spot!" A small child dressed as a Gronkle roared at Meatlug, Fishlegs' Gronkle. The dragon roared back and the child raced away laughing.

"Atta boy, Meatlug," Fishlegs smiled. Nearby, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was also putting up decorations with the help of his Deadly Nadder – a female named Stormfly.

"Ready, girl?" he called, balancing three shields in his arms. Stormfly nodded so Hiccup tossed the shields in the air. Stormfly whipped her tail spikes out and used them to pin the shields to a large wooden fir-tree that had been built the previous day. Just then, Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast, walked in.

"Odin's beard, Gobber," he smiled. "Vikings spending the winter holiday with dragons – what would our fathers say?"

"They'd think we'd lost our minds," Gobber replied, equally jokingly.

"Well, done! Well done," Stoick congratulated the village. "I never thought I'd live to see the day," Stoick sighed. "Peace on the island of Berk. This will surely be the greatest holiday we've ever seen." Suddenly, a roar sounded from above. All the Vikings glanced upwards to see a whole flock of dragons flying out to sea. Hiccup was standing by Stormfly when her pupils narrowed into slits.

"What in Thor's name...?" Gobber gasped. On a nearby rooftop, Snotlout Jorgenson's Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, roared and took to the skies, leaving Snotlout hanging onto a beam.

"Come back – what're you doing?!" he yelled.

"Meatlug!" Fishlegs cried, racing off to find his dragon. Hiccup glanced around.

"Where's Astrid?" he muttered. If anyone could figure what the dragons were doing, it was his fiancée.

/\

"What do you say, pal?" Astrid grinned. "Want to go again?" Her thoughts were interrupted when she and Toothless flew into a flock of dragons. Astrid raised her arm to protect her head when a Monstrous Nightmare that looked suspiciously like Hookfang caught her armlet, causing it to fall off. "Oh, no – my armlet!" Toothless sensed his rider's distress and went into a nose dive. The armlet had once belonged to Astrid's mother so it was very important to her, even if it was made from the scales of an ex-Deadly Nadder.

"WHOA!" Astrid screamed. "No, no, no, no, no, no! Whoa, wait! Toothless – stop," she panted, brining the Night Fury to a halt just before they hit the waves. "We'll get it later, bud. We need to get back and find out what's going on." Reluctantly, Toothless headed back to Berk.

Back on the island, dragons were taking off from rooftops, the Plaza and anywhere else a villager could name. Vikings struggled in vain to hold their dragons back but the reptiles just flew off without explanation.

"No, no, no! Don't leave, Stormfly – don't go!" Hiccup pleaded to his dragon. Stormfly turned a blind eye on him and took off without even glancing back. "Please..." At that moment, Astrid landed.

"Hiccup!" she called, racing over. Hiccup came over to meet his girlfriend.

"Astrid – what's going on? Where're they going?" he asked. Astrid didn't have to speak as the entire village raced over.

"Why did they leave?"

"What's happening?"

"What if they never come back?"

"Stop! Wait!" Astrid cried. Thankfully, Stoick intervened.

"Calm down! Give her a chance to speak!" he roared. "Astrid, where are our dragons going?" Astrid was at a loss for words.

"Stoick, I don't know," she murmured. Turning back to the dragons flying over the ocean, she spotted Toothless seemingly talking to Stormfly. In the end, the Deadly Nadder flew away, leaving Toothless on the cliff gazing sadly after the others.

/\

"Where did they go?"

"Snoggletog is ruined..."

"It's not ruined!" Stoick sighed in the Meade Hall that evening. "We're Vikings! We've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations and there is no reason that we can't do it again! Now we don't know where they've gone off to but we have to have faith that they'll be back again soon," he explained. "Am I right?"

"That's right!" Gobber agreed. "We are Vikings – we are tough!" The village made a face at his Snoggletog get-up. "Most of the time." The teens sighed in the corner. Of everyone in the village, they had the closest bonds with their dragons. As Gobber made a suggestion to sing Snoggletog songs, they slipped out of the hall and headed home.

"That was depressing," Ruffnut Thorston groaned.

"I know. I was looking forward to spending the holiday with Stormfly," Hiccup agreed. Astrid grimaced next to him – just like Toothless had made a habit of waking her up by jumping on the roof, Stormfly always woke Hiccup up in the mornings by poking her head through his window so that she was the first thing he would see. Hiccup had gotten used to it and looked forward to it – his bond with Stormfly was almost, if not as close as the one between Astrid and Toothless. Tuffnut suddenly caught note of Fishlegs whistling merrily next to him.

"What are you so happy about?" he snapped. "Don't you miss Meatlug?" Fishlegs started.

"Oh...yeah," he sniffed. "I miss him so much. Well, good night." He scuttled off. Hiccup's face lit up.

"I've got an idea," he grinned. "Let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions. You know, to bury the sadness." The teens made faces. Not wanting to bear the brunt of her boyfriend's anger (this happened whenever he had an idea that was rejected), Astrid shrugged. He did have a point (not to mention he was giving her one of his looks - namely the raised eyebrow look).

"Actually, Hiccup could be onto something," she shrugged. Hiccup grinned at her but Tuffnut snorted.

"Easy for you to say," he huffed. "Your dragon can't go anywhere without you," he added scornfully, indicating Toothless who was sitting on a cliff nearby. Astrid spotted him and her heart sank. Tuffnut was right.

"Must be nice," Ruffnut muttered. The teens headed off home but Tuffnut's comment had got Astrid thinking – it was her fault that Toothless was stranded and couldn't fly without a rider. Now he couldn't be a normal dragon and go where his friends went. Maybe there was a way she could remedy that...

* * *

><p><strong>AHHH! I meant to post this yesterday! I've got schoolwork on the brain...two more weeks...two more weeks...<strong>

**Anyway, time for this year's Christmas/Snoggletog Special! I'll be updating every week on Thursdays with this one on the lead-up to Christmas like I did with ****_A Family's Gift_**** last year.**


	2. New Traditions and a New Tail

**Chapter Two: New Traditions and New Tail**

A group of small children were building a snow Gronkle the next morning. Being the youngest in the village, they barely had time to learn about the whole dragons-are-enemies thing before Astrid stepped in so they got on the best with the dragons aside from the teens. Their playtime was interrupted as the smell of something delicious wafted through the air and Hiccup walked by carrying a tray of something.

"Lavender, milk and honey!" he called cheerily. "Get your lavender, milk and honey! Come on – come get a frothy, delicious cup of cheer!" Hiccup spotted his friends and raced over. "Hey, you guys – try this tasty new beverage I made for the holidays." The relaxing scent of lavender reached Tuffnut's nose.

"Wow – what's that smell?" he grinned. "Can't be you!" he added, shoving his sister over. Hiccup smiled and began to pour out a mug of the drink.

"It's a concoction I came up with – lavender, goats' milk and honey from the mainland," he explained. Tuffnut suddenly felt a little sleepy.

"Whoa – if I drink that I might just fall asleep on the spot," he yawned. Hiccup growled slightly.

"Would you rather taste a punch in the face?" he hissed as Ruffnut took a sniff at the beverage and smiled – the drink sure did smell good and seemed like it would be a nice one to have when relaxing just before bed. Snotlout walked up to his cousin.

"Hiccup – it sounds delightful. I'd love a mug," he grinned. Hiccup smirked at Tuffnut as his cousin took a swig. "Wow – that is seriously relaxing," Snotlout added, finishing the drink in one gulp and yawning slightly. Fishlegs then entered the scene.

"Yum! What is that?" he asked, bashing Tuffnut out of the way. Hiccup's face lit up again.

"Oh, do you want to try some?" he offered. "I thought I'd share some out - it's a family recipe." Snotlout suddenly collapsed behind him, having fallen asleep. Fishlegs took this the wrong way.

"Actually, I have suddenly and inexplicably changed my mind," he stammered. Hiccup shrugged. Their loss.

"Well, you don't know what you're missing," he smirked. "I bet Astrid will love this." He headed to the forge as Ruffnut inspected a snoozing Snotlout.

"Is he snoring?"

/\

"Astrid?" Hiccup called.

"Yeah, I'm in here, Hiccup!" Astrid called back from inside the store. "Coming!" Hiccup walked over to the workbench where Astrid was tinkering with something and offered her the lavender milk.

"Happy holidays," he greeted. "From me to you, mi' lady," he added with his trademark smile. Astrid smiled back and took a mug from the tray – whatever it was it smelt delicious (better than her attempt at yaknog the previous year...to say it hadn't ended well would be an understatement).

"Thank you, babe," she joked. Hiccup chuckled before glancing at the workbench.

"What're you up to?" he asked. Astrid paused from taking a sip of the drink and turned to her boyfriend.

"Well, you're gonna think I'm crazy but..." she sighed. "I couldn't stop think thinking about what Tuffnut said last night. Toothless can't come and go like the other dragons and that's just not fair," she trailed off before turning to her latest contraption. "Anyway, I was up all night and I think I've found a way to fix that." She demonstrated with a lever on the thing she was working on. It was a similar shape and colour to Toothless' intact tail fin but this one had a series of cogs attached to the lever which looked as if it would fit snugly in between two flaps of skin that made up the fin.

"No way!" Hiccup blinked as Astrid took a sip of the drink. "You built him a new tail?" Astrid stifled a small yawn. "So, he's gonna be able to fly without you, right?"

"Mmm-hm."

"Wow, what a great gift," Hiccup smiled. A thought suddenly hit him. "What if he never comes back?" Astrid's face fell.

"Oh...yeah..." she mumbled. Hiccup laughed.

"What am I saying? Of course he will."

"Uh-huh."

"Well, I'm gonna go spread some more holiday cheer," Hiccup smiled, leaving the forge. "You're amazing!" he called just as he exited into the street. Astrid put the mug of lavender milk down and stretched. Maybe Hiccup could go easier on the lavender next time (she'd have to find some way to say that to him without facing the risk of obtaining a bloody nose in return). Still, she couldn't get what he had just said out of her head. Taking another look at the new tail, she began to wonder if she should give it to her best friend. No, that would be selfish. She headed outside to find the Night Fury.

/\

"Toothless! Come on down, bud!" Astrid called. Toothless was on top of the house, where he normally was when he wanted to go flying. "I've got something for you." Astrid showed the tail fin to Toothless. He sniffed it. "Yeah – what do you think of that, huh?"

It took longer than last time to get the darn thing onto his tail, much to Astrid's frustration. The darn dragon just wouldn't stay still.

"Would you just settle down?" Astrid huffed good-naturedly. Eventually, she pounced on the Night Fury's tail to make him hold still. "Come on, Toothless, pal. Let me get this on you." Astrid began strapping the new tail-fin to Toothless' tail and a smile spread across her face. "You are going to love this."

It took Toothless less than two seconds to decide that he didn't like whatever was on his tail so he tried to shake it off. Instead, a tail fin snapped out at the same time as his right one.

Astrid smiled as her best friend tested the new tail fin – it worked perfectly, opening, closing, narrowing and widening at the exact same time as the real tail fin.

"There you go," she panted. "See? Got it?" Toothless looked at her, so she walked closer – now she could put it to the ultimate test – a quick flight. But instead of allowing his rider to come close, Toothless stared at her as if he'd never seen her before.

"Toothless?" Astrid frowned, trying again. Suddenly, Toothless took to the sky, the sudden movement sending the Nordic Blonde girl spirally to the ground. Recovering and wiping snow out of her eyes, Astrid watched in saddened shock as the black figure she'd grown so close to vanished into the sky.

Toothless was free now – he had no need for a rider anymore.

He had no need for Astrid anymore.

/\

Astrid couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned in the hard wooden bed that had been hers for almost a decade, longing to hear the growls and other noises her best friend made.

_BANG!_

Astrid blinked. She had to be imagining things.

_CRASH!_

Astrid slowly sat up. Something was jumping on the roof again...could it be...? Or was she still dreaming?

_THUD!_

"Toothless!" Astrid cried, leaping out of bed and racing outside. "I knew you'd come ba...WHOA!" she yelped, slipping on the same ice patch outside the house. But there was no Toothless to catch her so she fell straight on her back and banged her head on the ice. Glancing up at the roof, it turned out that it wasn't a dragon on the roof, but Stoick.

"Morning, lass," he greeted. "Hiccup and I were wondering why you didn't come down for breakfast." Astrid grimaced and slowly stood up as her foster-father clambered down from the roof of the house.

"Oh, hey, Stoick," she greeted, rubbing the back of her head and making sure her back was still in one piece. "Hiccup gone out already?"

"He said something about trying to think of a new Snoggletog tradition," Stoick replied. Astrid hid a snort – well, that could only end well. As much as Hiccup was smart, festive activities weren't usually his forte. "Glad you're finally up. I was looking for your armlet," the chief added. Astrid blinked. Woops.

"My...my armlet?" she repeated.

"Well, Odin needs to have some sort of sign as to where to put your goodies," Stoick chuckled. "Hiccup's already put his helmet in the dining room." Astrid suddenly remembered – normally, Viking children used their helmets as caskets during Snoggletog for a place to put their presents. Astrid, not having a helmet (at least, not any more – she'd had a seriously oversized one when she was a toddler up until she was five years old but when Valka, Hiccup's mother, had given her the leather headband she now always wore, she'd discarded it), often shared with Hiccup but always put something down to mark where her presents should be put (this mark also acted as a present by itself because for nearly ten years she hadn't received much because of her reputation).

"Oh, yeah...alright. I'll get on with it," she grimaced. "Great..." she muttered to herself. Stoick noticed the look on her face before she turned away.

"Hold up," he called. Astrid stopped. "Hold on. Come on – what's on your mind? Out with it," he asked. Astrid sighed. Since the Battle of Helheim's Gate, she'd become closer to Stoick than ever, so she felt that she could actually talk to him now.

"Well...it's been three days, Stoick," she sighed. "I just thought Toothless would be back by now." Stoick's face fell.

"I'm sure he's with the other dragons," he comforted.

"Yeah," Astrid sagged. "I wish I could be that sure." Stoick sighed and placed a gentle hand on his foster-daughter's shoulder.

"Astrid – Hiccup and I both know what it's like to miss someone you love at this time of year," Stoick comforted. "Your parents and Valka were some of the closest to me." Astrid fought back tears at the mention of her parents. She also knew how much Hiccup had missed his mother when she'd disappeared so it was one of the few pieces of common ground they'd had before the whole 'dragons are friends' fiasco, not to mention Valka had been the only member of the Haddock family Astrid had been relatively close to after moving in. "But what can we do when they can't be here for the holiday?" he asked rhetorically. "We celebrate them," he explained with a warm smile under his flaming red beard. "And I imagine that's exactly what Toothless would want you to do. Right?"

"You're right," Astrid replied, forcing a smile, still fighting back tears (one escaped, but thankfully Stoick didn't notice).

"Good," Stoick smiled, clapping Astrid so hard on the back, she nearly fell over again. "Now go get that armlet. We've had enough disappointment around here."

Astrid grimaced, rolling her shoulder to check for any possible dislocation. Perfect – her armlet was in the middle of the ocean. How in Thor's name was she supposed to find it by that evening?

/\

Trudging through the village with a set of oars in hand, Astrid wasn't looking where she was going and banged into Fishlegs. She noted the basket of fish he was carrying.

"Wow. You hungry, Fishlegs?" she joked. "There's enough fish in there to feed a dragon." Fishlegs suddenly looked shifty.

"A dragon?" he grimaced. "Don't be...that's ridiculous." He raced off. Knowing something was up Astrid abandoned the oars and followed him. Before the whole dragons-are-friends adventure, Fishlegs was her closest human friend so the fact he was hiding stuff from her was a little off. She spotted him emerge from a hut near the docks. As soon as Fishlegs was gone, Astrid opened the doors to the hut to reveal an astonishing sight.

A Gronkle burst out and flew straight into Astrid, forcing her to hold on for dear life as she was taken out to sea. When she had a closer look, she recognised it.

"MEATLUG?!" she yelped. Hiccup spotted the dragon fly towards him. He ducked before spotting Astrid and taking a double take.

"Astrid! Where're you going?!" he cried.

"I HAVE NO IDEA!" Astrid yelled back as she and Meatlug vanished from sight. Hiccup kept staring in surprise until...

"Meatlug!" Fishlegs shouted. "What about presents?!"

He was so dead.

* * *

><p><strong>I said the yaknog scene would have some changes to it. Hope it's okay!<strong>

**Quick reminder to readers: I have a poll on my profile about which crossover project you would like to see next now that ****_Ablaze_**** is over. The poll is open until 00:00 GMT on January 1st 2015 so you guys have until then to vote.**

_**How a Hofferson Trains her Dragon 2 **_**is now in the works so with any luck that'll be posted some time next year.**


	3. Your Dragon Laid Eggs!

**Chapter Three: Your Dragon Laid Eggs**

"I can't believe him," Fishlegs moaned. Hiccup glared at him.

"_You _can't believe _him_?!" he yelled, refraining from straight out punching the guy. "YOU KIDNAPPED YOUR DRAGON!"

"Well, that makes it sound a bit mean," Fishlegs mumbled.

"Uh, guys?" Tuffnut called over by a pile of straw at the back of the barn.

"He flew away as the second he was unleashed!" Hiccup snapped, his fists clenched and his forest-green eyes flashing with frustration.

"Well, I'm still 72% sure that he wanted to stay!" Fishlegs muttered back.

"Hey, guys!" Tuffnut snapped irritably, looking at the speckled objects under the straw. Hiccup jogged over and knelt down to examine the objects, holding one carefully in his hands. On first glance, they looked like very lumpy rocks but Hiccup blinked in amazement when he felt heat emanating from the one in his hands...these were...

"Meatlug barfed up a pile of rocks," Fishlegs chuckled.

"You're such an idiot," Ruffnut groaned. "Those aren't rocks! Your dragon laid eggs!" A realisation hit Hiccup as he examined the eggs.

"Wait a minute!" he exclaimed. "I bet that's why the dragons left! To lay their eggs!" Fishlegs did a double take.

"But...boy-dragons don't lay eggs!" he stammered. Ruffnut rolled her eyes.

"Yeah," she sagged. "Your _boy_-dragon is a _girl_-dragon!"

"Oh, that actually explains a few things..." Fishlegs muttered. Hiccup's face lit up.

"Hey! Everyone's missing their dragons, right?" he pointed out, picking up one of the eggs.

"Here it comes..." Snotlout groaned. Hiccup turned around to reveal the egg with a ribbon tied around it.

"I've got an idea. It'll be our new Snoggletog tradition," he grinned. The others caught on and grabbed a couple of eggs. They all then snuck into the village and placed them into helmets and other such present-spots in the houses. "Ooh – this is gonna be so good!"

/\

Elsewhere, Astrid was riding on Meatlug to a place unknown. Through the thick fog it was very much like the time she and Hiccup had accidentally discovered the Dragon's Nest with Toothless and she and Meatlug had some very close calls with a couple of rocks.

"Meatlug – where're you taking me?" she asked for what seemed like the thirty-seventh time. The Gronkle very nearly crashed into an old Viking ship that had clearly semi-sunk during one of the many failed Nest Expeditions. Astrid yelped and managed to pull the dragon out the way just in time. She led Meatlug above the clouds and when they cleared, an island was revealed. Clearly it was a volcanic island of some kind, judging by the steaming pools of water dotted around the place. Meatlug landed and Astrid dismounted to see a sight that rivalled the best of sunsets.

Everywhere she looked there were dragons – and not just adults. As far as the eye could see, there were tiny baby dragons of every breed Astrid knew of, and even ones that she didn't.

"You guys come here to have babies," she breathed. "Whoa..." She spotted a Deadly Nadder sick up some fish for its nest of mini-Nadders and then spotted a Gronkle nudge some eggs into a pool of water. Minutes later, a small baby Gronkle poked its head up. Astrid had to admit, they were extremely cute. She noticed one egg that the mother Gronkle had failed to push into the pool. Her bond of dragons as big as it was, she decided to help.

"Hey! You missed one..." she began, failing to notice the egg glow before exploding in her face. "WHOA!" she yelped as she was sent backwards (Astrid was counting herself lucky that her prosthetic hadn't been incinerated). Another baby Gronkle headed over to its siblings and Astrid sat up in shock.

"Man, it's a good thing those don't hatch on Berk!"

/\

Hiccup placed the last of the eggs in a helmet before sneaking out of the house to join his friends, not noticing the ominous glow the egg was giving off.

"Wasn't this a great idea?" he grinned. Fishlegs nodded excitedly.

"Everyone's gonna be so surprised!" he smiled. Suddenly, something exploded from the house Hiccup had just left and bonked Fishlegs on the head.

"Surprise!" Snotlout teased. Something landed on Fishlegs – it was a baby Gronkle.

"Aww!" the twins and Snotlout cooed, uncharacteristically, overwhelmed by the cuteness of the thing. Hiccup, on the other hand, could only stare at it in shock horror.

"The eggs explode?" he gaped. Another five houses exploded in front of him.

"THE EGGS EXPLODE!"

As more houses exploded and Vikings ran around everywhere in the village, Hiccup could only watch with horror. What in Thor's name had he done? Man, he should have known that going out with Astrid would leave its mark on him some way or another sooner or later. The teens weren't exactly helping either.

"Awesome!" Ruffnut grinned.

"Wow!" Tuffnut added. Fishlegs silently watched the pyrotechnics with a baby Gronkle in his arms whilst Snotlout glanced at his cousin.

"This is the best idea you've come up with ever!" he grinned. Hiccup retaliated by punching his cousin in the face but Stoick walked into the midst of the chaos before a serious skirmish could ensue and couldn't believe what was going on.

"What in Thor's name is going on?!" he roared. Hiccup cowered slightly.

"The eggs explode..." he muttered. Another house exploded behind him and he grimaced nervously. Well, he'd just had his first Astrid-moment.

/\

"Toothless!" Astrid called back on the Rookery. "Toothless?" She'd spent the best part of the afternoon searching for her best friend but she had seen no sign of the tell-tale black scales of a Night Fury. She hadn't seen _any_ Night Fury to that matter – was Toothless really the last of his kind? Was that why he left? To find another of his species? "Toothless...where are you?" Astrid groaned, clambering up a rock. A red head glanced up at her, as well as a Deadly Nadder and Hideous Zippleback.

It was the Riders of Berk dragons.

"Hookfang!" Astrid cried, racing over to the Monstrous Nightmare and hugging his snout. She then spotted the Nadder – Hiccup's dragon. "Stormfly!" she grinned, rushing over. "You've no idea how glad I am to see you guys!" she smiled before something nudged her foot. It was three baby Nadders – one green, one purple and one was an exact miniature of its mother. "And you have...babies?" she squealed happily, kneeling down to pet the creatures. "Aww – look at you, all happy together." Astrid giggled as one of the baby Nadders nuzzled her hands. "Who would have guessed that you were leaving to celebrate your own...sort of...holiday?" she smiled. Then something hit her.

Snoggletog officially started that evening. Everyone would be wondering where Astrid was and the sun was sinking fast.

"I should be getting back to my holiday," Astrid grinned, casting a glance at Hookfang. "What'd you say, there, Hookfang? Think you could give me a ride home?" Hookfang snorted in reply and allowed Astrid onto his back. Taking off, she turned back to the gang. "I'll see you guys back in Berk when you're all good and ready. Okay, gang?" she called. Unfortunately, Stormfly roared and took to the skies next to Hookfang and other dragons followed her example. Whoops.

"No! No, no, no..." Astrid grimaced. "I think I just started the return migration..." she added to herself.

The baby dragons were keen to follow their parents and began racing towards the end of the cliff.

"Well, if you insist..." Astrid shrugged. She willed the babies to take flight – they did but a strong gust of wind prevented them from getting very far. "Oh, boy. This is never going to work." Astrid's brain whirred into action – then she had it. "Oh! Wait just a second! I have just the thing." She led Hookfang away from the island – she remembered something from her flight here that might just work.

/\

Back on Berk, things weren't looking too good and Stoick knew it. Although everyone was trying their best to repair the damage (especially Hiccup – he hadn't spoken to anyone all day).

"Oh, Gobber," Stoick sighed. "Snoggletog is ruined."

"Ah – it's not so bad," Gobber shrugged, trying to remain optimistic.

"Not so bad?" Stoick repeated. "The village is destroyed; the dragons have gone and left us...face it, Gobber. This holiday is a complete... What are all these people looking at?" he snapped, glancing up to the sky, He could faintly make out a dragon-like shadow against the stars but it wasn't very clear. "What is that?"

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry this is late! Had a school concert yesterday and didn't get back until late. FINALLY OFF SCHOOL FOR THE HOLIDAYS NOW! Holiday work allowing, I'll hopefully (fingers crossed) be able to work on some of the projects that have been on hiatus for a while - no promises but I'll do my best.<strong>


	4. Happy Snoggletog!

**Chapter Four: Happy Snoggletog!**

As the shadow drew closer, it was clear that it was an old boat from a failed expedition. It was suspended by ropes in the air, carried by none other than a pack of dragons. And riding the Monstrous Nightmare leading the flock...

"It's Astrid!" Stoick cried, recognising the Nordic Blonde astride the Nightmare. Hiccup spotted the familiar flash of blue of his Nadder and nearly dropped the hammer he was carrying.

"And our dragons!" he added from the roof he was working on. The boat skidded to a halt just in front of the Vikings and the dragons let go of the ropes. A few curious children walked forward as a couple of baby dragons poked their heads out of the boat. The whole village gasped with admiration and glee as they raced to meet their dragons.

"Yeah!" Snotlout grinned as he greeted Hookfang. Hiccup spotted Stormfly not far off.

"Stormfly! You're back!" he cried as he hugged the Deadly Nadder's snout. A small squeak caught his attention as Stormfly's three children gathered around his feet. "And you have babies! Aww!" Stoick chuckled and walked over to Astrid.

"Well done, Astrid!" he smiled, scooping the teenager up into a bear hug that nearly squashed the air out of her.

"Thanks...Stoick...can't breathe," Astrid gasped as she was let down.

"Everyone – grab your dragons! To the Great Hall!" Stoick roared. "We finally have something to celebrate."

/\

In the Meade Hall, Astrid grinned as everyone celebrated with their dragons and the new babies. One pair of children were playing a game of 'Steal the Mead' with a baby Zippleback and one poor Terrible Terror was being carried around the room by a young girl that was as big as it was. Needless to say, it did not look overly amused.

"This is the best holiday ever!" Fishlegs cheered, holding a baby Gronkle in each arm. "Who's a baby? Who's a cutie baby?" Astrid snorted at her friend's baby talk and nearly burst out laughing at the sight of Snotlout looking after one of Hookfang's kids and nearly getting his face burnt. But beneath her happiness, Astrid still felt a pang of sadness – the one dragon she wanted to see the most wasn't there. So many possibilities ran through her mind, but all of them left her thinking that her best friend will never come back. Her thoughts were interrupted by a nasally voice.

"Astrid..." Hiccup began carefully. He may be the toughest Viking teen on Berk but after being kidnapped by Astrid and Toothless, he had learned to watch his way with his girlfriend especially since he had an unfortunate habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Not to mention, they'd recently found out that Astrid had what was known as a 'Berserker' mode, in which she could throw incredibly powerful punches whenever she was angry. Hopefully he should be okay – Astrid was more sad than angry tonight...it pained Hiccup to see her like this, though.

"I know it must really hard for you seeing everyone with their dragons," Hiccup sighed. Astrid's face turned away so Hiccup placed a hand on her cheek so that her storm-blue eyes met his forest-green ones. "But you really did a wonderful thing! Thank you," he finished, holding her other hand and standing on tiptoe to give her a kiss before holding her in a hug (Hiccup was praying for a growth spurt sometime in the near future, he was still the shortest of the gang). Astrid sighed and returned the embrace.

"Hiccup, where did Toothless go?" she sighed. Hiccup patted her back fondly.

"I don't know," he replied sadly. He heard the door to the Hall open and a glance at the entrance told him the answer. A black shape nervously poked its way through the towering doors that, according to legend, had taken an entire month and half the tribe to build. Grinning mischievously, Hiccup couldn't miss the opportunity for a classic Snoggletog tradition – joking around.

"Man," he sighed, breaking the hug. "Wouldn't want to be you, right now, mi'lady!" Astrid made a face of confusion. "I mean, you brought back _everyone's _dragon, except yours." Astrid's face turned to one of annoyance. Oh, how she wished she could punch Hiccup and get away with it.

"Yeah, you know, this actually isn't helping," she groaned. "Like...at all...WHOA!" Hiccup's grin widened as he suddenly shoved Astrid, causing her to do a 180 turn. What greeted her was a sight better than any helmet full of presents.

"TOOTHLESS!" Astrid squealed, running over to the Night Fury that was now standing in the middle of the hall. "Hey, pal!" She paused for a second – there was no trace of the blank, feral look in Toothless' eyes so she hugged him as if the world would end. The hall didn't erupt into applause as they usually did – instead, they smiled at the sight of true friendship. Astrid soon broke the hug and began telling her friend off as she would if Hiccup's cat, Fiddlesticks, had coughed up a hairball in her room.

"Bad dragon! Very bad dragon!" she scolded playfully. Toothless followed her finger around. "You scared me to death! Don't you _ever_ stay away that long again and _what_ is in your mouth?" Astrid added, pointing at a brightly coloured object in Toothless' jaw. Instead of any kind of understandable answer, the Night Fury regurgitated something onto Astrid's arm, receiving a few "Eww!"s and "Yuk!"s from the rest of the teens. Astrid smiled at her friend's sense of humour and began wiping dragon saliva off her arm.

"Yeah, yeah – you found my armlet..." she rolled her eyes before stopping in her own tracks. "Wait! You found my armlet!" Toothless made a small rumbling noise in return. "_That's_ where you've been?" Astrid gasped – no wonder Toothless had been away so long! Her armlet had been at the bottom of the ocean and Toothless had used his new found freedom to bring it back to her in time for Snoggletog. "Toothless...thank you!" Astrid paused again, looking into her best friend's eyes, feeling tears welling up in her own and smiling until her cheeks felt sore. "You are amazing."

The whole hall burst into cheers and Hiccup walked over to Astrid and Toothless.

"Happy Snoggletog!"

_The next morning..._

_BANG!_

"ASTRID!"

"I'm going!" Astrid called to a still sleepy Hiccup next door as her eyes fluttered open when she heard the welcoming sound of a dragon jumping on her roof. This morning, she didn't need any persuading. Rushing downstairs and quickly slipping something to Hiccup's helmet, she walked outside into the winter morning. The village seemed some different when it was buried in a foot or two of snow. It was so...beautiful. Astrid stopped to admire the scene when an impatient roar sounded.

"I'm coming, Toothless!" she called, walking round the house. "Come on down, pal! I was just..." But Toothless was already off the roof. Next to him was his old flying gear. Astrid frowned. "Toothless, what'd you get all this stuff out for?" she asked. "You don't need this anymore." She pushed the saddle away with her prosthetic foot and walked closer to her friend. "Come on, pal, let's get going."

Instead of holding still and waiting for his rider to mount, Toothless moved away as Astrid moved forward and sat next to the old flying stuff again. Astrid couldn't understand the reptile's attitude.

"Would you quit fooling around, you twit?" she groaned, trying again. "You have your new tail now." Toothless moved away from her again. "Toothless?" Astrid frowned. Toothless looked at her before opening up his new tail fin – there was nothing wrong with it. It worked perfectly down to a millimetre. He looked back at Astrid, who nodded. The dragon took one last look at the tail fin and gave Astrid a look that only meant one thing.

_Scrap this tail!_

Within ten seconds and despite Astrid's desperate protests, Toothless smashed the tail fin against the hard ground and shook it off. Astrid stared at him in disbelief – Toothless had just thrown away his freedom...the freedom she'd given him. He pulled the saddle towards him one more time and made a face that was so easy to read, Astrid didn't have to speak Dragonese to understand what he was saying.

_I want to fly _with_ you! Please?_

A small smile slowly crept onto Astrid's face.

/\

High in the clouds, Astrid hooted with joy as she prepared for another aerial stunt with Toothless – a vertical freefall before saddling up again and flying off before hitting the ground.

"Ready?" she asked, unhooking the harness. Feeling like showing off, she jumped off with a somersault and began the freefall. All the time she couldn't wipe the grin off her face. Playfully, Toothless pushed her so she span around in the air. Once she'd hooked herself back onto the saddle, she pulled off the manoeuvre that had actually been inspired from the test flight mishap over a month ago and hooted as the wind from Toothless' winds sent most of the snow flying off the trees.

_Winter in Berk lasts most of the year. It holds on with both hands and won't let go and the only real comfort against the cold are those you keep close to your heart. Turns out, that was the best Snoggletog ever. That year I gave my best friend and pretty great gift._

_He gave me a better one._

**The End**

* * *

><p><strong>Happy Snoggletog, fellow Dragon Riders (and any and all other seasons greetings)! I hope you guys are having a great holiday and here's to a great 2015! Be sure to keep an eye out for <strong>**_How a Hofferson Trains her Dragon 2_****, the next crossover project (you guys have until 00:00 on January 1st to vote for that! Check out the poll on my profile) and (if I can get over my stupid writer's block) the rest of ****_How to Twist a Dragon's Tail_**** in the new year!**

**Just wanted to say, you guys are amazing. The support I've received on my stories over the last two years and a bit has been incredible - you make me proud to be a member of the HTTYD fandom. Thank you so much! Once again, Happy Snoggletog!**


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